Letters to the editor for Thursday, October 4, 2012

In your brilliant editorial "Sounding a warning ...?" you made the solution to exorbitant property taxes crystal clear: Reform New York state's woefully skewed tax code.

In your brilliant editorial "Sounding a warning ...?" you made the solution to exorbitant property taxes crystal clear: Reform New York state's woefully skewed tax code.

The state must reduce "the reliance on property taxes and regressive fees in favor of a broad-based method of raising needed revenue." Bingo!

Albany politicos have refused to acknowledge that the tax code favors the megarich and big businesses at the expense of homeowners, renters and small businesses bearing the brunt of escalating property taxes.

For years, while property taxes soared by 18 percent, income taxes on the very rich declined. Albany collected less of the broader, more equitable income tax from million-dollar earners and coddled corporations with loopholes.

Pleading poverty, the state slashed aid to schools and localities. These cuts shifted funding for schools and other public services to the middle class via non-income-based property taxes — the bogus "tax cap" notwithstanding.

The governor's promised tax code reform commission has not materialized. If the Record's editorial analysis errs in laying the problem of confiscatory property taxes squarely on state government, then let's have that promised Tax Reform Commission prove otherwise.

Gioia Shebar

Gardiner

Anyone with sense would ask why so much time is spent trying to discredit Islam. If someone wants to read about "Islam," he or she should read the Qur'an and the Sunnah (traditions) of Prophet Muhammad.

If people want to discredit Islam, the technology of today makes it easier than ever to spread a lie across the globe. But a lie is just that, a lie.

Any idiot can put a film full of lies out about anyone or anything, but Allah has told Muslims to repel bad with good. The violence of some Muslims in the Arab Spring has absolutely nothing to do with Islam, regardless of how sincere they may be. They are behaving out of ignorant emotion; they do not reflect the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.

Allah has told us not to let the hurt we suffer at the hands of others cause us to become unjust ourselves. Our Prophet resorted to violence only when "peaceful measures failed."

See, it's not enough to simply say you're Muslim; that's what you have to be. Following our Prophet's example is to accept even those things you'd rather go against. Read.

Hamin Rashada

New Windsor

The thought that our children would get less of an education in the Warwick or Chester School Districts is ludicrous. In today's economy we have to search for a better and more cost-efficient alternative to the Tuxedo School District.

The children will adjust; just as in life, things change. The tax burden for the people of Greenwood Lake is getting out of control because of the economic times we live in; residents are having a hard time making ends meet. Having to pay less tuition to Tuxedo would allow us to use some of our tax dollars for our other two schools. Our children would have more opportunities made available to them in a bigger school district than in Tuxedo.

The residents of Greenwood Lake have little to no say regarding Tuxedo High School, but the costs of maintenance and expansion are easily passed on to us. The only time we seem to get a voice is when it's time to sign a new contract with the district.

There are always options for those families who feel that a larger school is not in the best interests of their child. It's called private school.